Unheralded coach has presided over a remarkable turnaround as club navigates La Liga’s epic relegation battle

Luís Castro was 11 when he started vomiting blood. Taken to hospital and diagnosed with purpura, initially doctors told his parents there was no chance of him living and even when he was cured they said he couldn’t do any physical exercise ever again. But three lonely years later, driven by an inner strength he ascribed to a higher power, he was back on a football pitch, building a career that took him through the lower leagues in Portugal as a player and around the world as coach, winning trophies in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Brazil, until one day in December his name landed on the president’s desk at Levante: just the kind of man the Spanish club needed in their impossible fight for survival.

Oh, wait. No, that’s not right. “I had heard of another Luís Castro but not this one,” Pablo Sánchez admitted on Sunday night, “and this one turned out to be the ideal coach for our club.”

• Sevilla safe despite defeat against Real Madrid

• Tiny Elversberg seal first promotion to Bundesliga

Roma took a huge step towards returning to the Champions League by beating Lazio 2-0 in a feisty derby which finished with both teams down to 10 men, while Napoli won 3-0 at Pisa to secure a top-four spot.

Gianluca Mancini smashed home two headers from corners, one in each half, at the Stadio Olimpico to move Roma up to fourth thanks also to Juventus’s shock 2-0 home defeat by Fiorentina.

• Barça will be champions if Real fail to win on Sunday

• Bayern draw with Heidenheim; PSG denied by Lorient

Barcelona could secure the La Liga title on Sunday after Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres struck late in a 2-1 victory at Osasuna. With four games remaining, Barça top the table on 88 points, 14 clear of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand and visit Espanyol on Sunday. Should Madrid fail to win, Barcelona will be confirmed champions for the second successive season.

Barça broke through in the 81st minute when Marcus Rashford crossed from the right and Lewandowski rose to head in. Five minutes later Fermín López slipped Torres clear and he finished low past Sergio Herrera. Raúl García pulled back a goal from close range two minutes later, but it was too little to late for Osasuna, who remain 10th on 42 points.

• Fermín López goal caps 3-0 win over Levante

• Milan’s Loftus-Cheek hospitalised as Parma win 1-0

Barcelona returned to the top of La Liga with a 3-0 victory over relegation-threatened Levante as Marc Bernal, Frenkie de Jong and substitute Fermín López struck at Camp Nou.

Last season’s champions moved to 61 points from 25 games, one ahead of Real Madrid after their rivals’ defeat by Osasuna on Saturday. Barça had slipped to second after last week’s 2-1 loss to Girona but rarely looked troubled by a Levante side second from bottom on 18 points.

• Raúl Asencio also on target in 2-0 win over Levante

• Harry Kane scores in Bayern’s 5-1 win at RB Leipzig

Real Madrid ended a turbulent week with a much-needed 2-0 win against Levante, courtesy of second-half goals from Kylian Mbappé and Raúl Asencio, after being booed by a restless Bernabéu crowd before the breakthrough arrived.

Real looked flat in the first half, still carrying the scars of Sunday’s 3-2 defeat by Barcelona in the final of the Supercopa de España, followed by the departure of Xabi Alonso as manager the next day and a shock 3-2 Copa del Rey exit to second-division Albacete on Wednesday.

• Rodrygo keeps Real within four points of Barça at top

• Inter win 2-1 at Genoa, as Milan draw and Napoli lose

Rodrygo secured a crucial 2-1 victory for Real Madrid at Alavés in La Liga, ending a dismal run of form and keeping them within four points of the leaders, Barcelona.

Real, under pressure after two successive defeats in all competitions, broke the deadlock through Kylian Mbappé’s stunning first-half strike. However, a resilient Alavés levelled in the 68th minute through Carlos Vicente. The visitors restored their lead eight minutes later, courtesy of a counterattack led by Vinícius Júnior, whose assist was converted by Rodrygo.

• Danilho Doekhi puts Union Berlin ahead twice in 2-2 draw

• Juventus held goalless by Torino in Serie A derby

Harry Kane headed in a stoppage-time equaliser to prevent a first defeat of the season for Bayern Munich but their 2-2 draw at Union Berlin ended their record winning start across all competitions.

Union thought they had won it with Danilho Doekhi’s second goal in the 83rd minute but Kane headed in the leveller. Bayern top the Bundesliga on 28 points and in fact extended their lead to six, as RB Leipzig lost 3-1 at Hoffenheim.

This story will be updated